The present invention relates to a disposable pull-on wearing article such as a disposable pull-on diaper or training pants.
Conventionally, disposable pull-on diapers are well known in the form of a disposable pull-on wearing article. In one example of well known pull-on diapers, a front waist region and a rear waist region are joined together along transversely opposite side edges thereof and these side edges may be torn apart to take the diaper off from the wearer's body. For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 1992-371147 (hereinafter referred to “REFERENCE 1”) discloses a disposable pant which can be used as the disposable pull-on diaper. In the case of the pant disclosed therein, a front waist region and a rear waist region are joined together along transversely opposite side edges thereof by use of a heat-sealing means. These side edges joined together in this manner have an appropriate strength such that the pant can be easily torn apart along these side edges to take the pant off from the wearer's body. In the pant, the front waist and rear waist regions are respectively provided with a plurality of thread-like elastic members extending in a transverse direction of these waist regions and attached in a stretched state thereto while the crotch region is provided with a plurality of thread-like elastic members attached in a stretched state thereto so as extend along the peripheral edges of the respective leg-holes.
There has already been proposed also a pull-on wearing article including panels which are elastically stretchable in the direction of the waist line and interposed between a front waist and rear waist regions. For example, National Publication of Translated Version No. 1996-507699 (referred to “REFERENCE 2”) discloses a pull-on disposable diaper comprising an absorbent “chassis” and a pair of elastically stretchable “panels”. This diaper further comprises a waist-hole and a pair of leg-holes. The “panels” which are elastically stretchable in the direction of the waist line are respectively provided in the vicinity of transversely opposite lateral regions of the wearer and attached to the “chassis” along predetermined joint lines. With this diaper put on the wearer's body, the “chassis” covers the front and rear waist regions as well as the crotch region of the wearer while the “panels” are elastically stretchable and contractible to make the diaper fit the lateral regions of the wearer's waist. When the diaper put on the wearer's body has been soiled with bodily discharges, the “panels” may be torn off from the “chassis” along the joint lines to take the diaper off from the wearer's body without the anxiety that the wearer's body might be soiled with bodily discharges. This diaper is further provided in the transversely middle zone on the rear waist region's outer surface with an adhesive tape tab used to secure the used diaper in a rolled up state for disposal.
Japanese Patent Publication No. 3421030 (hereinafter referred to “REFERENCE 3”) discloses a pull-on undergarment. This undergarment comprises a front waist region, a rear waist region and a crotch region wherein the front and rear waist regions are connected together by nonwoven fabric strips adapted to be torn apart with the bare hands. Each of these nonwoven fabric strips extends in a longitudinal direction from one of leg-holes to a waist-hole and may be torn apart in the longitudinal direction to take the undergarment off from the wearer's body.
In the case of the pant disclosed in REFERENCE 1, each side edge of the front and rear waist regions comprises an inner sheet formed from a nonwoven fabric and an outer sheet formed from a lamination of a plastic film and a nonwoven fabric or the like. Assumed that the side edges of the front waist region each comprising a plurality of the sheet material layers are placed upon and joined to the side edges of the rear waist region by a heat-sealing means, each of the side edges of the pant would comprise four to six sheet material layers heat sealed together. An effort to tear these side edges joined together apart one from another to take the pant off from the wearer's body may sometimes peel the nonwoven fabric and the plastic film off from each other just along the joined zones and properly disconnect the front and rear waist regions from each other. However, this will be rarely achieved and, in many cases, the front and rear waist regions of the pant will be disconnected from each other with the nonwoven fabric and the plastic film torn not along the joined zones but around the joined zones. In other words, a caregiver for the wearer intending to take the pant off from the wearer's body must tear apart at least two or three layers of the sheet material at once with a considerable force. In addition to this inconvenience, it may be difficult for the caregiver to achieve this operation quickly since it will be rare that these layers of the sheet material are rectilinearly torn apart. Assumed that the waist surrounding elastic members and the leg-surrounding elastic members are attached in a stretched state to the pant, respectively, these elastic members may be peeled off from the nonwoven fabric and the plastic film and thereupon intensely contract just as the side edges of the pant are torn apart. These elastic members peeled off in this manner may painfully hit against the fingertips of the caregiver. Furthermore, the pant taken off from the wearer's body will be formed with a plurality of complicated gathers due to contraction of the waist-surrounding elastic members and the leg-surrounding elastic members and these complicated gathers will make it difficult to roll up or to fold the used pant for disposal in a manner such that the inner surface contaminated with bodily discharges might not be exposed.
The diaper disposed in REFERENCE 2 is said to ensure that the stretchable “panels” can be removed from the “chassis” along the joint lines of the “panels” and the “chassis”. However, on the assumption that these joint lines are formed by a heat-sealing means the stretchable“panels” with the“chassis”, operation of removing the “panels” from the “chassis” will really comprises, just like in the case of the pant disclosed in REFERENCE 1, operation of tearing the “panels” and/or the “chassis” along the joint lines. Such operation will require a considerable force and it may be difficult for the caregiver to achieve this operation quickly. Assumed that the stretchable “panels” include thread-like elastic members attached in a stretched state thereto, these elastic members intensely contract just as these “panels” are removed, and may painfully hit against the fingertips of the caregiver. Furthermore, upon removal of the “panels” from the “chassis”, the transversely opposite lateral portions of the diaper are opened and, even after the diaper has been rolled up in the longitudinal direction and fixed in this rolled up state, the lateral portions remain opened. As a result, bodily discharges and odor may leak through these lateral portions remaining opened.
The diaper disclosed in REFERENCE 3 has no means for maintaining the used diaper in a rolled up state and it is likely that the soiled regions of the used diaper may be exposed and cause emission of odor.